Keeping Papers Updated

While our kids were on Spring Break last week, we spent a beautiful sunny day at the Zoo with shorts on! Our grand plans this weekend are to stay inside and snuggle up with our kids to stay warm. A great itinerary for a wintry "spring" weekend!

This week Rob and I got three difficult documents finished which were pretty tough to complete.

After all the hassle with the CPA docs, Russia added another form! Plus, we were missing a tiny detail on the originals. We had to go back to the CPA - during tax season - and ask if he could complete the forms...again! Oh, my goodness, what a blessing that man has been to us! He's in the process of adopting, too. So, he has an understanding that few can truly know. After the papers were signed and notarized I had to take them to be appistilled at the Secretary of State in Missouri because that's where they were notarized.

Did you know that fingerprints expire after one year? My dad was in shock about that one! He said, "If someone dies when they're 80, can't you identify them with the fingerprints from birth?". That's the impression I had! But, apparently, these days, they only work for one year. So...Rob and I had to go back to Homeland Security to have our fingerprints updated on our I-171H form. For those who don't know, that is the form that costs a lot and takes a long time to be returned by the government. And, we cannot take our little girl out of Russia without it. Not something you want to expire if you can help it!

Then the last thing we had to complete was an update on our Picture Pages. We have sent Russia at least 5 copies of our pictures from our house and family. This one needed more pictures. And, like always, it had to have a cover letter that had to be completed and signed by our social worker, then notarized and then appistilled in Topeka before I could send it. Nothing is easy!

So, at this very second all our paperwork is updated and nothing else looks to expire until this fall. "Oh, Lord, let it be so!" Still no news on travel dates. In some ways our family is on "pause". But mostly, we just have another "DVD" playing a lively show while the "paused" one waits to be started again!
"I will constantly speak the Lord's praises!" Psalm 34:1